It is 93 miles 76 chains (93.95 mi; 151.2 km) down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and is situated between Swindon and Bath Spa on the GWML.

[12] With the subsequent opening of lines to Salisbury and Weymouth, the station was not adequate to meet the increased demand and was redesigned by J H Bertram in 1856 to 1858; it is a Grade II listed building, constructed in Bath Stone ashlar with a bay window at one end and a wing at the other, making a long, low composition.

[15][16][17] This work was funded under the Department for Transport's Access for All scheme, although in any case the bridge required replacement as part of the project to electrify the Great Western main line, as it was too low for the overhead wires to fit underneath.

[21] In the old station yard to the south of the railway (now a car park) there is a Grade II listed Brunel-designed stone-built office.

[22] In the northern station yard (also now a car park) is another Grade II listed building, partly in random stone but mainly weather-boarded on a timber frame with a pitched slate roof.

It is an early weighbridge house and coal merchant's office dating from around 1840, and may have belonged to Rowland Brotherhood's engineering works.

Two southbound weekday trains continue through to Salisbury and two northbound to Cheltenham Spa, with one each extending to Southampton Central in the south and Worcester Foregate Street in the north via the Bristol-Worcester Line.

On Sunday, in addition to another Salisbury service three trains run to Frome, of which two utilise the rest of the Heart of Wessex Line and terminate at Weymouth on the south coast.

There were plans to electrify the Great Western Main Line along its whole length (Heathrow Junction to Bristol Temple Meads), which were originally scheduled for completion by 2016.

[27] However, in November 2016, the work to electrify the section between Chippenham and Bristol (as well as Oxford to Didcot) was suspended due to 'cost overruns' until further notice.

After BTR merged with Siebe to form Invensys, Westinghouse Brakes was sold in 2000 to Knorr-Bremse, who opened a new factory at Bowerhill, Melksham.

[37] Immediately west of the station lies the Grade II* listed Chippenham viaduct, designed by Brunel and completed in 1841.